Visa (NYSE:V) Raised to Strong-Buy at BNP Paribas Exane

Visa (NYSE:V) was upgraded by equities researchers at BNP Paribas Exane to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

V has been the topic of several other research reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Clear Str upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price objective on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $398.36.

Visa Stock Down 1.3%

Visa stock opened at $355.94 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $638.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a fifty day moving average of $335.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $325.08. Visa has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $365.14.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Visa will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Clayton Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 446.2% during the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in Visa by 102.7% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.